State has traffic concerns about American Dream mall

State officials raised concerns about traffic congestion that the proposed American Dream Miami mega-mall could create.

The Florida Department of Transportation suggested ways to reduce traffic congestion and warned that it might challenge the proposed mall if the developer fails to respond to its suggestions.

The developer, Triple Five, recently detailed plans to control traffic congestion around the site of American Dream Miami by building new interchanges and widening roads.

Triple Five said the road upgrades would unfold between the Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike and Interstate 75 from Northwest 170 Street to the north. Upgrades also are planned on two north-south roads that intersect the site of American Dream Miami, Northwest 97 Avenue and Northwest 102 Avenue.

Broward County Nan Rich told the Sun-Sentinel the developer’s traffic-congestion solutions for American Dream Miami are inadequate. The 6.2 million-square-foot mall would be built in unincorporated northwest Miami-Dade County less than two miles from the Broward border.

Rich told the newspaper the traffic near the development site is already a “mess” and Triple Five’s plan to limit bumper-to-bumper traffic in southwest Broward is unconvincing.

The South Florida Regional Planning Council voted in March to submit to state regulators Triple Five’s application to build the proposed American Dream Miami shopping mall. The advisory council’s unanimous vote pushed the big mall project a step closer to a decisive vote by the Miami-Dade County Commission to change the county’s comprehensive master plan for development to accommodate American Dream Miami. [Sun-Sentinel] – Mike Seemuth